Being Grateful

Thanksgiving as a daily holiday

As we age, we have the potential to develop a myriad of personas:

Some of us become crotchety and miserable.

Some become bitter and aloof.

Some of us will “temper” and be easier to get along with.

Some find a level of humility they didn’t have before.

Some of us will get desperate.

Some allow the loss of people in their lives to drive them to loneliness.

Some of us will fight to stay open-minded and malleable, to an extent.

Some get so mean that people don’t want to be around them.

Finally, some of us will become grateful for every breath. Every step.

We will wake up in the morning and find ourselves being grateful we woke up at all. We will feel a twinge of pain here and there, but be satisfied we can dress ourselves without assistance. We may not be able to “jump” into and out of the shower like we used to because experience has taught us the dangers of “jumping” into (or out of) anything, least of all a tub or shower, but the independence of bathing ourselves without assistance is a gift. We find ourselves reflecting on how good it is to be able to feed ourselves while still being able to enjoy the scent of bacon frying, or the “clean scent” of a beloved pet when it comes in from outdoors when it’s cool outside. We find ourselves reflecting on loves we lost, loves we gained, and how our lives would not have been worth living if we hadn’t known these beautiful souls, even though we miss them dearly. Us older folks may shake our heads at the crazy ideas of the youth, until we find ourselves remembering how we were young once and our ideas were called crazy too. Our hearts melt when we realize we can still hear the joyful cry of tiny babies, and the painful wails of small children that used to send us over the edge as we reached our “last nerve,” we now see as opportunities to share our experience in calming the riled children and masses of the world. Many of us will look around at the “things” we have accumulated and admit we would give them all away for just one more minute, one more hour, one more day with someone we cherished on this path called life.

If a person is honest with themselves as they age, they will find regret to be something only for people who never took a chance… and even though in some ways we might regret that we took the chance, we don’t regret that we did, because our life would have been stale, boring, and uneventful if we hadn’t.

We may find ourselves lamenting decisions made. Some mistakes and decisions we made in the pride of youth will haunt us… if we let them. Then we realize that many of the mistakes and decisions we made were done with a true belief in ourselves, and even though others may have been harmed emotionally by those choices… they were all without malice… we never intended to hurt anyone.

There’s plenty of reasons to be grateful on Thanksgiving. As many of my readers know, it’s my favorite holiday of the year. Not because of the food. Not because of the family gatherings. Not because of any “thing,” but because it’s the last holiday in America that hasn’t been commercialized to the point where it’s unrecognizable. Combine that with the memories of all the things we really can be grateful for and it adds up to a beautiful holiday full of traditional meaning in the heart of the one celebrating.

Finally, as I ramble once again to the handful of subscribers I haven’t lost due to my honesty, my realistic look at the world around us, and my unwillingness to join a certain club just so people will read what I write without challenge… I thank you. All of you. Especially those who have read and supported my work over the last 3 years, or whatever it’s been, and still take the time to “heart”, comment, or banter. I’ve always wanted this to be a place where people who are often lost in the mire of giant publications with hundreds of comments get sidelined or lost, to be able to come and find someone who may be a bit like them. That what you say matters, even if others disagree. I’ve learned a lot from all of you. I’ve been challenged at times and even changed my views on a few things… all because of you.

Anyway, without making this insanely long for no reason, I just wanted to wish everyone an amazing Thanksgiving. Please remember that we don’t have to have a specific day of the year to remember why we should be thankful. Every day holds at least one thing to be grateful for. If we are willing to look for that one thing.